HGUC_ECOAS Jegan Review

I always love it when Gundam adds new concepts that don’t exactly add much to the story itself, but make the whole universe seem richer in a way. While characters like the MSV Ace Pilots don’t have much of an impact on the overall story to the One Year War, they add a nice little dimension to the time period that shows that there was more to the war than what the viewers saw the White Base crew encounter. Gundam Unicorn added the concept of the Federation’s ECOAS (Earth, Colony Asteroid) teams, which, from what I’ve gathered, is the Universal Century equivalent to the modern day Navy SEALS.

However, you may notice that the Jegan you see here isn’t the ECOAS Jegan, but in fact, the D-Type Jegan; the model we mainly see in Unicorn. Ever since I laid eyes on that design, I fell in love for some stupid reason. However, at first I was worried that this was going to be some BS like the A-Type Zaku I, where in order to make it you need a regular Zaku I kit and a Zaku Sniper. For this variant, everything you need is included in the box, essentially making this an “in-box kitbash”. Really, all you need to do is use the parts for the standard Jegan head and swap the torso plate out for the standard cockpit. Instant D-Type.

Of course, there are a few issues here. The most glaring being the dark brown color scheme, which is going to be a huge pain to paint in the Jegan’s trademark pale green color scheme. The second is the crystal visor, which here is pink instead of blue. I absolutely hate having to paint the visors on kits because it feels like I’m doing it a disservice. The whole point of crystal visors is, well, you see through them! You don’t really get that effect when you paint over them. Maybe I can get some clear blue spraypaint to work.

The kit feels very sturdy overall. It’s not as fancy as its younger brother the Jesta, but none of it feels like it’s going to break. Unfortunately the color distribution leaves a something to be desired, as none of the thruster and other yellow bits are their own pieces, which is going to result in some seriously frustrating painting.

The hip joints are a disappointment as well, but this is largely due to the mobile suit’s design and technological limitations. The triple-jointed hips we see on kits like the Jesta are absent, and instead we have the more traditional ball joints. If that joint system were used, the hips would have had to be completely redesigned and a lot of accuracy sacrificed, so sometimes you have to take the visually accurate route instead of the more functional one.

The weapon complement is pretty cool. You get the standard Jegan beam rifle, which is always neat; the awesome ECOAS Jegan Bazooka (which I hope to find a new home for), and a beam saber. Normally beam sabers are pretty unexciting for me, but this kit has beam sabers blades at two different lengths! Hell yes. Bandai, please do this more often, thank you. It also includes a hand rack for storing all… one of the extra hands it comes with. Oh well, the thought counts.

Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t build this as the default kit, but the second I figured out I didn’t need a second kit to make the D-Type, I just ran with that. Maybe I’ll get to painting this sometime over break. In the meantime, I’d suggest picking up this kit or any of the other Jegans if you see them at FPNYC!